:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Sad story of a destitute family in Maldives

Father is mentally disabled - the children can't even afford school books

Translated by Dhivehi Observer, 16 October 2004

Sahusiyya with her little one - in front of her run down house

Sahusiyaa's whole family is poor and live in appalling condition

Sahusiyaa's and her daughter sleep in this small bed - there is no mattress just a mat

Sahusiyya was sitting on a mat with her baby girl. The little one was laughing, teething into the plastic plate that had contained her breakfast. Sahusiyya's beautiful smile greeted us.
'Have you finished feeding the baby?' I asked.
'Yes,' said the 18 year old mother.
'What did you feed her?'
'Rice and sugar.'

This was last Friday morning. She had finished feeding her baby girl, but what about her brothers and sisters? Sahusiyya is the second eldest of eight siblings. She has to look after most of the rest of her family as well as her own daughter. That is the wish of her brother as well. When her marriage ended, her brother asked her to stay at home to look after everyone.

Their home has four walls and a roof. Every sheet of iron on the roof has holes and when it rains, Sahusiyya, her young daughter and the others cannot sleep comfortably. When we entered the house there was no one there except for a variety of creatures wandering around - chickens, young roosters, cockroaches, flies and rats. There were chicken droppings on a large 10 ft square wooden bench built like a huge bed (boduashi) for the children to sleep on.

And the problems don't end there. It is very difficult for this family to get clothes. The teenage girl wears torn dresses. When we offered to buy her a dress, she smiled. 'I have dresses,' she said and opened a cardboard box and she took out four dresses and showed us her favourite red one, but even that was torn at the bottom. They don't have a wardrobe. They don't iron their clothes. They use oil lamps although electricity is available in the island.

When we looked around we realised that the condition of this family in Baarah island is no better than the family we saw in Eydhafushi island on Baa Atoll. The five children in Eydhafushi were left to fend for themselves by their irresponsible parents, but at least they had beds to sleep on.

The floor in Sahusiyya house was cemented but the large bed in Sahusiyya's house is not a comfortable sleeping place. Baarah is known for its mosquitoes and this is the only house without a mosquito net. Sahusiyya's baby girl seems to have adapted to sleeping without a net.

'Some children sleep on the bare floor,' a Baarah resident told us. It broke our hearts when we saw the bed where her baby sleeps. Sahusiyya has to curl up when she sleeps with her daughter in that bed because it's too short for her.

There is a kitchen in the house but you have to squeeze through a three foot high door to get into that room. The only utensil in the kitchen was a pot on the fire stove. The roof had several holes.

Mustafa is the eldest of the youngsters. The 21 year old works at nearby Hanimaadhoo Regional Airport. He does not like to talk about the situation at home. However, after seeing everything for ourselves, we believe this story should be published.

The main reason for the sad fate of this family is that their father Ali Yousuf became mentally ill a few years ago. The mother said he lost his mind after a being very sick with a high fever. He is now mentally crippled. Still alive, he has brought more misery and distress to the family. People in the island say sometimes he does not even wash himself after going to the toilet.
'Some times he appears fine too,' said a man from Baarah, 'but he is insane.'

When all this happened, Haleemaa Fulhu got a divorce from him and re-married. Some people believe that she abandoned the children and it harmed the family. 'When mother leaves, won't the children be even more destitute?' said a Baarah man. 'But Haleemaa Fulhu claims she re-married for the sake of her children.'
Even when Ali was healthy, the family was poor. Their condition was even worse than today. It is claimed the new house was build by the North Ward Society of the island.

Because the most basic services were unavailable to the family, everyone apart form Mustafa, the eldest, grew up without any education. Even now the members of this family do not go to school. The youngest is seven years old. Two of the children are living with relatives in nearby Hathifushi and Kaafu Kaashidoo and they go to school.
'The government said it would give them the books they needed but they never arrived, so we couldn't send them to school,' said Sahusiyya.

According to an elderly person in the island, they got books and uniforms but because there was no one to look after their other expenses, they could not afford an education and that is why they don't go to school.

When the eldest Mustafa got his job, things improved a little bit for the family. They had a more to eat each day. However, a neighbour said, 'These children are very poor.' Another neighbour said, 'They are the most poverty-stricken family in the whole island.'

From his salary, Mustafa is building a two bedroom house on his father's land. The work is almost completed and he now needs a roof on the house. There is no way to estimate when the family can move into their new house. A visitor said Mustafa is doing a good job as a brother, but the lack of basic provisions will have a negative impact on the future of these children.

'Their education is very important. It is best they can go to school. Their sleeping conditions are unsatisfactory. Something should have been done about the situation; it could have been much better,' said another person who went to Baarah and witnessed their plight.

Mustafa is the only one who received any education in this family. 'The parents were too poor so the children had no education, except Mustafa,' said Sahusiyya.

The destitute suffer more than others, as can only be expected. Sahusiyya herself is an example of that. It was her brother's wish that at 16 years of age, she marry someone from Hanimaadhoo whom she only saw on the night of the wedding. The man already had a child from another marriage. Sahusiyya was unable to live peacefully in her husband's house. She was divorced when she was six months pregnant, and Sahusiyya said her step-child was the cause of trouble in the household.

She returned home after this short marriage, expecting her first child. Since becoming a mother she has had to become an adult and more responsible. Sahusiyya has to manage with the 400 Rufiyaa (30 dollars) each month that her former husband gives her as maintenance. However, if you consider the requirements of the large family, nothing can be managed properly with that amount.
The Rf500 maintenance the government usually pays to people who can't afford basic things, is not paid to members of this family. Many people in the island questioned about this decision. More affluent families than this are getting government maintenance, according to Baarah people.
It is believed that a government team visited the island to assess this family. However, no action was taken afterwards. That is why Mustafa does not believe anyone will help them. He believes he is working for the sake of his family. He will look after them as long as he is alive. However, he does not earn nearly enough for the family to survive or live a basic life.
'How can that boy take care of all the expenses?' said mother Haleemaa Fulhu on her Friday visit to them. 'We cannot live without help from someone. We don't even have enough to eat; we don't even get clothes,' she complained.

Some Baarah islanders think the father Ali Yousuf should be sent to the mental hospital as soon as possible. This was arranged but there was no one to take him to Guriadhoo island near Male', so nothing happened.

Here is a young family without even the most basic education and without any basic provisions; they are destitute and neglected. They do not have the guidance of a mature person. Their lives are being wasted in front of everybody. Our society must be prepared to face this sort of situation and deal with it.